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Battlewagon (Ship)
Description The massive scro Battlewagon symbolizes the scro's emerging power within the spelljamming arena. Unlike the Mantis, the Battlewagon is not designed for boarding actions, and instead carries a large number of ranged weapons. This is not because the crew of a Battlewagon are any less devoted to personal combat than any other scro, but rather because a Battlewagon will carry an admiral, and is therefore expected to always be in a position from which the admiral can properly command his fleet. The deadly efficiency of the Battlewagon makes it a ship that few other vessels can stand up to in a fight. Indeed, the shear number of catapults and ballistas carried means that few enemy ships survive long enough for the Battlewagon to get within range to use its greek fire projector. In addition to this impressive array of weaponry, a Battlewagon typically carries 20-40 goblin Blades. Some of these Blades will be used as messengers to carry important messages and charts to and from the other ships in the scro fleet, while the rest will be used as boarding boats in combat, allowing the crew of the Battlewagon to enjoy hand-to-hand combat, even while the ship itself remains unconstrained by grapples. Crew A Battlewagon typically carries a full crew of 160 scro, twice what its air envelope can safely support. As on other scro ships, this overcrowding is not considered to be a concern, since the war priests regularly cast Fog Cloud spells to refresh the air envelope. A Battlewagon will invariably be under the command of an 8HD almighty leader, who will be the admiral of the fleet that the ship leads. The admiral's staff will include another almighty leader serving as the captain for the Battlewagon, and next in line to command the fleet should the admiral fall. The rest of the admiral's staff staff will usually consist of 8 6HD captains, who serve as both advisors and bodyguards. In some cases, the advisors will be of other races that the almighty leader finds useful, such as ogre magi, humans, or other, more exotic creatures. The other officers on board consist of 10 6HD captains, who fulfill various roles, and 10 war priests, each of whom is a 5th level cleric/mage. The war priests serve as helmsmen, navigators, combat support, and spiritual leaders. In these roles, the war priests provide a great deal of advice to the almighty leader. The non-comissioned officers directly in command of individual teams of crew consist of 26 4HD sergeants, who lead 104 standard 3HD marines. Ship Uses Command Ship: While the scro will use any suitably powerful vessel as a command ship (ogre mammoths are popular, as are smilodons), the Battlewagon is the ship that they designed specifically for this purpose, and all six Battlewagons known to exist (the Decapitator, Conflagrator, Devastator, Eviscerator, Mutilator, and Defenestrator) serve as flagships of important and powerful fleets. In this role, the Battlewagon will typically be encountered with 2-8 other combat ships, such as Mantises (this is in addition to the Blades carried). In combat, the Battlewagon will usually stay just within range of its medium weapons, while directing its accompanying vessels to close for boarding. Other Configurations While the admiral of a scro fleet has absolute authority over all ships in that fleet, and would be able to order any modification he desired for his flagship, in practice the Battlewagon sees no modifications. The only customization that an almighty leader will typically allow for his ultimate warship would be markings on the hull signifying the ships that the Battlewagon has destroyed or captured.